Category Archives: film

Last November we were invited to perform at the DIY Outspoken Showcase at Hyde Park Picture House in Leeds. My short film, The FU Story was also screened, and I got to be part of a very cool panel with Josie Long, Scout Niblett and Katie Harkin. Rosie Stoker has made a short doc of the day. You can see it here! If you’d like to catch Adventures in Menstruating or Josie Long at the Fringe, we’re on the Ladyfest Edinburgh Cabaret tomorrow night from 8 – 11 at Leith Circle of Friends, Leith Walk. Josie’s on at the Pleasance Dome every night at 7, but tickets are selling out fast so grab them soon! (I have learned this from experience.)

I’m very excited to be doing a zine workshop in Leeds with Sarah later today (or tomorrow, in my head, once I’ve gone to bed and woken up again). After that we’ll be putting in a little open mic action at the Chemic for Riot Grrl. If you’re in the area, you’d be very welcome.

I’ve just stayed up far too late to watch Day of the Dead, so I may be speaking in zombie metaphors tomorrow. It’s pretty much par for the course at this time of year though. Before I get into a one-woman menstrual zombie representation debate, I’ll just say Annual Halloween party breakdown will go up Sunday, followed by a veritable opus of overdue posts.

We’ve been invited to perform in Edinburgh a part of Femstruation week, and it starts tomorrow! A reading at Forest Cafe on the 13th and our full show – Here’s The Science Bit at The Big Red Door on Valentine’s Day.

We had a great time performing in Sheffield the other week and the Sheffield Fems have put up some photos of our tampon crafts.

The zines are now also back in stock at their usual UK distro, Marching Stars, and are finally back in stock at Microcosm and also at Sweet Candy Distro in Georgia, USA. Sweet Candy is run by my good friend Sage, who put on our very firt ever show back in Philly in 2005.

If you’ll allow me to riff on the A-Team saying of old, I love it when menstruation and zombies come together, and boy did they for me this weekend. I promised Leeds Uni radio’s Femme Fatale show listeners that I’d post more details of our Halloween Party, and I also had another radio-themed surprise this weekend when I tuned into the podcast for NPR’s comedy quiz show Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me!

But first, I should explain that my retort to anyone who likes horror movies but cringes at menstruation is, “Why are zombies eating brains ok, but if they start menstruating, it’s gross?! Blood and guts are blood and guts.” So part of our show is the film trailer and pitch for my menstrual zombie comedy movie. You know, “In a world where…etc. etc.” Some of you have heard it already, and I’m happy to pitch it to anyone else who wants to know between now and our next gig. In any case, we are so annoyed that the title ’28 days Later’ is already taken…

So, that’s the backstory to my costume for our annual Halloween party that we host for our friends. We get really competitive with ourselves, and it’s kind of a mini comedy installation each year. This year’s theme was the International Undead Convention, and guests were invited to invent a cause or lobbying group that they would represent, as an undead individual. Then I created parody logos for each of them.

Sarah co-hosted on behalf of the Vampire Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. (The GLAAD logo looks amazingly like blood when you give it a re-colour, and the ‘a’ and ‘d’ are particularly blood-droplet-reminiscent as well!) I love GLAAD, and I hope they don’t mind my parody. They get a ‘not menstrual but should be’ tag.

I was a member of Menstrual Zombie Actors’ Equity (again – it should go without saying that I respect and support what Equity does). I had a huge red bloodstain printed onto the bottom of the back of a tshirt. I’m telling ya – one day I am gonna start my Stains TM fashion line (Ha! I have now actually done this: www.stainstm.com! -Chella). Red is the new black.

We put signs up around the house to make it look like each room was a different conference venue, and created parody logos for each of the guests as well…I’ll do a gallery later on.

“In honor of Halloween we’re talking zombies with legendary movie director George Romero — how to recognize them, how to defend against them, and — since this is Public Radio — how to try to reason with them, and come to mutual understanding and respect.”

The whole show was great, as usual, but I really got a kick out of the festive theme, and I love zombies. For George Romero’s bit, he had to answer a question. The answer to the question will lead you to this link, so you may want to listen before you read on. (Is it appropriate to announce spoilers for a radio quiz show?)

Spoilers:

Romero gets the answer right (and the video itself is pretty good until it veers off into questionable territory after about minute six or so – further analysis from me will follow in Issue #5 of Adventures in Menstruating). Other than a smattering of groans from the audience (a mild response for this crowd – they have shown much more disgust much more vocally for more appropriate targets in the past, so I’m not complaining), periods were part of the comedy.

Menses even made it back at the end of the show for some recall about an earlier panel topic –

Peter asked for a prediction: “In reference to the first inter-gender golf match, how will President Obama show that he is all about the ladies?”

Panelist Amy Dickinson immediately fired back: “In solidarity to the women on the staff, President Obama is going to adjust his own hormonal cycle so they will all menstruate at the same time.”

Again, good-natured fun, and women were not the butt of the jokes, which means that Wait Wait wins a Second Place Award. I may need to create a new category for menstruating!Obama.

And, now that periods and the undead have shared radio air-time twice in one day on two continents, and even if I’m the only person who noticed or cared, I think menstrual zombie movies are officially on the table.

Lindsay Keith at THE [multimedia] REFINERY sent me a link to her short comedy animation exploring the wonderful world of menstrual euphemisms. She’s got some other related stuff in the pipeline (is pipeline another euphemism?), so watch this space!

I just got a review copy (after practising lots of Spanish and French to myself and then making some phone calls) of The Moon Inside You in the post, and, having recently swapped zines and dvds with Giovanna Chesler of Period: The End of Menstruation?, I think the next issue of Adventures in Menstruating is going to be a Cinema Extravaganza. (I’m already getting cover ideas…)

Contribute to Adventures in Menstruating #8!

Issue 7 is out now!

Facebook:

Categories

Categories

Old posts

Old posts

Why Adventures in Menstruating?

Chella thinks menstruation is funny.
This is why she writes about it, talk about it and makes up silly jokes about it.
Then she laughs.
A lot.
How can menstruation be funny?
The same way other stuff is funny.
It's a taboo subject - the shock of it all always gets a giggle right away and, immature or not, the gross-out factor can be fun.
Laughter is therapeutic - sometimes periods are a pain in the uterus, and that moment of recognition feels good. Shared experience rocks!
Comedy as subversion is addictive - once you start undermining those stereotypes and analysing the euphemisms, you just can't stop.
Menstruation has historically, socially and culturally been cloaked in fear and shame. Deconstructing menstrual stigmas, with brute force when necessary, is empowering.
Oh yeah - all her stuff is for menstruators and non-menstruators of all genders